Toy group tackles crisis triggered by demise of key retailer

This holiday season will be the first in 50 years without Toys R Us, which closed its U.S. stores in June. While that may be bad news for kids, it was even worse news for members of The Toy Association, many of which are small- to medium-sized toy companies.

“In our world, that was the bridge between being a small-to-medium company and a big company,” association CEO Steve Pasierb told CEO Update. “Toys R Us was that one that took a chance on you and gave you that big order so you could afford to produce the product. If you were successful at Toys R Us, then you began to look at Target and Walmart and others.”